John Ireland

Catholic Bishop

Male

BornSep 11, 1838

HometownIreland

DiedSep 25, 1918

Death PlaceSaint Paul, Minne...

Other NamesArchbishop John I...

John Ireland was the third bishop and first archbishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota (1888–1918). He became both a religious as well as civic leader in Saint Paul during the turn of the century. Ireland was known for his progressive stance on education, immigration and relations between church and state as well as his conservative stance towards drinking and political corruption.… Read More

News + Updates

'WORTHINGTON — It is said that when Bishop John Ireland died at St. Paul (1918) his funeral was attended by eight archbishops, 30 bishops, 12 monsignors, 700 priests and 200 seminarians. Wow! WORTHINGTON — It is said that when Bishop John Ireland died'

'Angelo Lerro (left) and his father Vincenzo look at photos that John Ireland (right) took on a recent trip to Italy. The Lerros, who are from Italy, were visiting Ireland's mother Gail, who is second cousin to Vincenzo'

'“I joked with him he might be the eighth wonder of the world to get through the injury and play a full 90 minutes,” said John Ireland, Rapids strength and conditioning coach. “We nursed him the first half of the week and he had to show me he could go'

'Steve Mason and John Ireland discuss whether UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel is on the hot seat. By Arash Markazi "The Football Monopoly in LA is Officially Over." From the moment Rick Neuheisel was hired to become UCLA's head coach in 2008,'

Timeline

CHILDHOOD

1838Birth
He was born in Burnchurch, County Kilkenny, Ireland, and was baptized on September 11, 1838.

184810 Years Old
His family immigrated to the United States in 1848 and eventually moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1852.
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One year later Joseph Crétin, first bishop of Saint Paul, sent Ireland to the preparatory seminary of Meximieux in France. Read Less

TWENTIES

186123 Years Old
Ireland was consequently ordained in 1861 in Saint Paul.

186325 Years Old
He served as a chaplain of the Fifth Minnesota Regiment in the Civil War until 1863 when he resigned.

186729 Years Old
He was appointed pastor at Saint Paul's cathedral in 1867, a position which he held until to 1875.

THIRTIES

187537 Years Old
In 1875 he was made coadjutor bishop of St. Paul and in 1884 he became bishop ordinary.
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In 1888 he became archbishop with the elevation of his diocese and the erection of the ecclesiastical province of Saint Paul. Read Less

FORTIES

188042 Years Old
In 1880 he also assisted several hundred people from Connemara in Ireland to emigrate to Minnesota.
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Unfortunately they arrived at the wrong time of the year and had to be assisted by local Freemasons, an organisation that disagrees with Roman Catholicism on many points. In the public debate that followed, the immigrants, being Gaelic speakers, could not voice their opinions of Bishop Ireland's criticism of their acceptance of the masons' support during a harsh winter.<br /><br /> De Graff and Clontarf in Swift County, Adrian in Nobles County, Avoca, Iona and Fulda in Murray County, Graceville in Big Stone County and Ghent in Lyon County were all colonies established by Ireland.<br /><br /> Ireland advocated state support and inspection of Catholic schools. After several parochial schools were in danger of closing Ireland sold them to the respective city's board of education. The schools continued to operate with nuns and priests teaching but no religious teaching was allowed. This plan, the Faribault-Stillwater Plan, or Poughkeepsie plan, created enough controversy that Ireland was forced to travel to the Vatican City to successfully defend it. He also opposed the use of foreign languages in American Catholic churches and parochial schools. Using foreign languages was not uncommon at the time because of the recent large influx of immigrants to the U.S. from European countries. Ireland influenced American society by actively promoting the use of the English language by large numbers of German immigrants. He was very politically outspoken and was a close friend to two presidents. Read Less

FIFTIES

189153 Years Old
In 1891, Ireland refused to accept the credentials of Greek-Catholic priest Alexis Toth, citing the decree that married priests of the Eastern Catholic Churches were not permitted to function in the Catholic Church in the United States, despite Toth being a widower.
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Ireland then forbade Toth to minister to his own parishioners, despite the fact that Toth had jurisdiction from his own Bishop, and did not depend on Ireland. Ireland was also involved in efforts to expel all Eastern Catholic clergy from the United States of America. Forced into an impasse, Toth went on to lead thousands of Greek-Catholics to leave the Catholic Church to join the Russian Orthodox Church. Because of this, Archbishop Ireland is sometimes referred to, ironically, as "The Father of the Orthodox Church in America." Marvin R. O'Connell, author of a biography on Ireland, summarizes the situation by stating that "if Ireland's advocacy of the blacks displayed him at his best, his belligerence toward the Greek Catholics showed him at his bull-headed worst."<br /><br /> At the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore the establishment of a Catholic university was decided. In 1885 Ireland was appointed to a committee, along with, Bishop John Lancaster Spalding, Cardinal James Gibbons and then bishop John Joseph Keane dedicated to developing and establishing the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.. Ireland retained an active interest in the University for the rest of his life. Read Less

LATE ADULTHOOD

190365 Years Old
At the same time, on Christmas Day 1903 he also commissioned the construction of the almost equally as large Church of Saint Mary, for the local Immaculate Conception parish in the neighboring city of Minneapolis.
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It became the Pro-Cathedral of Minneapolis and was later to become the Basilica of Saint Mary, the first basilica in the United States in 1926. Both were designed and built under the direction of the French architect Emmanuel Louis Masqueray.<br /><br /> John Ireland Boulevard, a Saint Paul street that runs from the Cathedral of Saint Paul, northeast, to the Minnesota State Capitol, is named in his honor. It was named in 1961 at the encouragement of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Read Less

190466 Years Old
In 1904 Ireland secured the land for the building of the current Cathedral of Saint Paul located atop Summit Hill, the highest point in downtown Saint Paul.

191880 Years Old
Ireland retained this title for 30 years until his death in 1918.
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Before Ireland died he burned all of his personal papers. John Ireland was personal friends with both Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Ireland's funeral was attended by eight archbishops, thirty bishops, twelve monsignors, seven hundred priests and two hundred seminarians.<br /><br /> The influence of his personality made Archbishop Ireland a commanding figure in many important movements, especially those for total abstinence, for colonization in the Northwest, and education. Ireland became a leading civic and religious leader during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Saint Paul.<br /><br /> Disturbed by reports that Catholic immigrants in eastern cities were suffering from social and economic handicaps, Ireland and Bishop John Lancaster Spalding of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, founded the Irish Catholic Colonization Association. This organization bought land in rural areas to the west and south and helped resettle Irish Catholics from the urban slums. Ireland helped establish many Irish Catholic colonies in Minnesota. He served as director of the National Colonization Association. From 1876 to 1881 Ireland organized and directed the most successful rural colonization program ever sponsored by the Catholic Church in the U.S. Ireland worked with the western railroads and with the Minnesota state government, he brought more than 4,000 Catholic families from the slums of eastern urban areas and settled them on more than 400,000 acres (1,600 km²) of farmland in rural Minnesota. Read Less